The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea purpurea and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Piccolino’. ‘Piccolino’ represents a new purple coneflower, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new cultivar arose from an ongoing breeding program conducted by the Inventor in a designated field at his nursery in Warmond, The Netherlands. The goal of his breeding program is to create new cultivars of Echinacea that exhibit a short and firm plant habit combined with inflorescences with attractive form and coloration. The Inventor made a cross in summer of 2008 between unnamed proprietary plants of Echinacea purpurea from his breeding line. ‘Piccolino’ was selected by the Inventor as a single unique plant amongst the resulting seedlings from the above cross in September of 2009.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by division in Warmond, The Netherlands in October of 2008 by the Inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.